Graduate Studies Committee Members

All BME Ph.D. students must select a supervisor for their dissertation research. Students may work with any member of the BME Graduate Studies Committee (GSC), which is comprised of BME department faculty as well as faculty in related fields who are active participants in the biomedical engineering graduate program at The University of Texas at Austin. The GSC makes curriculum recommendations and is responsible for graduate program policies through the program’s Graduate Advisor. Responsibilities of the GSC include graduate student instruction, advising, and supervising theses, reports, and dissertations.

Daniel JohnstonNeuroscienceResearch Interests: Research in the Johnston laboratory is primarily directed towards understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of learning and memory. We have focused our attention on neurons and synapses from the limbic system, mostly the hippocampus, subiculum, and entorhinal cortex. These areas are known to play important roles in learning and memory. Our research uses quantitative electrophysiological, molecular, optical imaging, and computer modeling techniques. djohnston@mail.clm.utexas.eduJohn A. PearceElectrical and Computer EngineeringResearch Interests: Thermal damage in tissue, electrosurgery, bioelectric phenomena. jpearce@mail.utexas.edu

Lisa GriffinKinesiology and Health EducationResearch Interests: Development of Functional Electrical Stimulation systems to enable hand muscle movement of those affected by paralysis from stroke and spinal cord injury. l.griffin@mail.utexas.edu

Robin GutellIntegrative BiologyResearch Interests: The analysis of RNA sequences from an RNA structure and a molecular phylogenetic perspective can reveal the secondary and tertiary structure of RNA molecules, most notably for the 16S and 23S ribosomal RNAs, and phylogenetic relationships for organisms that span the entire tree of life. robin.gutell@mail.utexas.edu